What Mayor Ed Hagerty described as a Del Webb for young people is on track to make its way to Mt. Juliet.

Lifestyle Communities, an urban living style community, had its preliminary master development plan approved by the planning commission Thursday. The community will sit on 28 acres across the street from the movie theater, and between Jonathan’s Grille and Deer Park Apartments.

The community will have 451 units from one bedroom to three floor townhomes. The community will focus on walkability and high end units. The units will be attached but have different front facades to create individuality amongst the units. They will have garages, but also parallel street parking to create a more urban feel.

Hagerty said this was something that Mt. Juliet sorely needed. He said he had three daughters, all of who moved to different areas in the middle Tennessee area because Mt. Juliet did not have these types of communities.

“It absolutely kills me,” said Hagerty of his daughters choosing to live outside of Mt. Juliet.

The community will also have a giant, all brick, Victorian style amenities building that will include a large fitness center, indoor post office area, a pool and a restaurant that will be open to the public as well as the residents. There will also be a through road in the community that will eventually tie in to future development to the south and lead to Central Pike.

Hagerty said it is important to get post-college people back to Mt. Juliet because many are not ready to buy single family homes.

“We’ve got to bring the young people into create viability in the city,” said Hagerty.

The preliminary plat was approved and will move on to the Board of Commissioners, possibly by the Aug. 12 meeting.

Another multifamily unit was met with a lot of public hostility earlier in the meeting. It was standing room only for Sterling Apartments, which would be located behind Target, next to Maristone Senior Community. City Commissioner Jim Bradshaw voiced his opinions in the citizen comments.

“I hope we don’t end with uncontrolled growth,” said Bradshaw.

Bradshaw said that there would need to be significant traffic improvements to the area to help with the new residents that it would bring. The land is currently zoned for commercial, so Planning Director Steve Foote laid out what would be the difference in the car count. The apartments would bring around 1,500 cars through the area, while a big box store could be anywhere from 5,400 to 8,000 cars to the area daily.

Several citizens voiced their concerns that Mt. Juliet will become Antioch if the area keeps getting flooded with apartment complexes. The fear is that 20 years from now, the apartments will not be as high end as they are today.

“This is by no means Antioch,” said Civil Site Design Group’s Rob Porter.

Larry Swank from Sterling decided that it was best to defer their project after the large amount of citizens who turned out for the meeting.

“It’s obvious we still have some work to do with the neighbors,” said Swank.

He is going to plan a meeting with the neighbors to help explain more about the project. It will be announced on the City of Mt. Juliet website and Channel 3.